XCOM 2010
by King Henry the V
Summary: Similar to the traditional XCOM plot, only set in Januray, 2010. Though ammunition types get a little creative, it begins with real-life technology.
1. Introductory Speech

Rictor had a quality most would consider arrogance. He called it knowing what he was capable of. Those like him were not super-human.

New training methods created elite soldiers in an 8-week time span, taken from Basic Training graduates in countries around the world. The Combat Unit was unlike anything Earth had ever seen. Only, the unit was a complete secret from the public.

ATCOM's mandate was to counter the primary threat to the people of Earth. It was the Anti-Terrorist Combat Unit. Until the Menace made itself known.

Whatever they were, their intent was clear from their first appearance. Even Rictor, leader of the newly-designated XCOM, cringed when he saw the results of what the UN designated Terror-01.

Everyone within a two-block radius of a European suburb was dead. There were violet-tinged scorch marks from unknown weapons, along with scattered corpses. Everyone who wandered into the Terror Zone was dead – no exceptions, no witnesses. That was when reports were released by world governments in a secret meeting at the UN. There was a new enemy, one ATCOM was uniquely equipped to deal with. The perpetrators of Terror-01 were waging psychological warfare against the people of Earth, and it was up to XCOM to ensure they failed.

Before Rictor sat all the men and women who were a part of XCOM. Eight soldiers, dozens of scientists and engineers. Behind him was a wall projection that showed the aftermath of Terror-01. The press of a button showed a corpse charred beyond recognition. It had a violet tinge.

"It is our belief that this damage was caused by hand-held weaponry. Our mandate, in part, is to stop this from ever happening again, so you can expect to encounter whatever weapon this was. Don't expect its wielder to be human." The room shuffled uncomfortably in their seats. Most knew what the "X" represented in XCOM, but it was still new to them. Their mellow reaction was precisely why this would be a secret war. The men were exceptionally well-trained to deal with this type of news. It was also why the X was not defined in any official records.

The scene behind Rictor changed to show a splattered ribcage and strewn limbs. "You've all heard the myth of cattle mutilations. What you don't know is that there really have been government cover-ups." The camera panned to show a murdered farmer, hunting rifle in hand. The body had the same violet-tinged scorch marks. "Obviously the same perpetrators."

On the wall, the photograph disappeared and a world map replaced it. Areas were marked with violet stars. A red star showed the location of Terror-01. "XCOM currently has one base of operations." A blue square lit up in Central Europe. "Our objectives are to identify the Menace and their goals. Remember, XCOM was founded to protect the people of Earth. This Menace – whatever it is – doesn't respect life, human or cattle." It was meant to impress the seriousness of the situation, not lighten the mood. No one cracked a smile.

"With our Skyranger transport, we can reach anywhere in Europe within 90 minutes. Hopefully, that will be enough to stop the Menace. Typhoon interceptors will be able to shoot down their transporters once our detection system is up and running.

"M-8 6.8mm, armor-piercing, exploding rounds. Ceramic armor laced with spider silk, capable of stopping any known rifle round or medieval broadsword. Training to match the SAS or Foreign Legion. We're the best there is, with the best equipment." A collage appeared on the wall next, containing images of corpses with violet burns.

"This is the war we're in, and we're currently Earth's only defense. Scientists and Engineers to provide technology and equipment to support our efforts around the clock. We will protect this planet from the Menace."


	2. UFO1

Crispin shivered. Everyone else on board had seen action against terrorists and extremists. He was the rookie among them, never mind that they had never encountered the Menace. Two soldiers clutched M-25 grenade launchers. Crispin likewise held his M-8 carbine. They had deadly weapons, but Crispin feared it would not be enough. This was a new enemy.

Skyranger-1 finally settled down. Major Hunter was on the ramp once it finished opening, a squaddie beside him. Their orders flooded through Crispin's head. "Secure the downed craft and eliminate all resistance." Simple enough.

He and another squaddie ran down the ramp once Hunter had the base secure. The rest of the team soon unloaded, with two riflemen to guard Skyranger-1. Crispin was sent left of the craft. A squaddie was several yards ahead.

If the enemy was anything like a human, they would be frightened, and shoot anything that moved. Either waiting for a rescue or trying to repair their ship.

Crispin shuddered when he realized the white structure ahead was actually the downed ship.

Once they were sure no targets were outside the UFO, Major Hunter had them search for an entrance. The outside of the ship was composed of four uniform white walls, one story tall. A squaddie finally found what looked to be the door, little more than grooves in one of the walls. Seven soldiers moved into position around the door while one worked on the door mechanism.

Pressing in exactly the right spot, the door finally slid open. A chirp similar to a cricket's accompanied a violet bolt that struck the squaddie's chest. He dropped to the ground, instantly dead. Before Hunter could react, a round object flew out the door. It landed at his feet.

Because Crispin was the rookie, he was also farthest from the door. That alone saved his life when the grenade exploded. He was the only survivor.

Somehow, Crispin knew what to do. Checking one of his fallen comrades, he replaced his M-8 with an M-25. He turned his attention back to the doorway. An ungainly, naked child stood there now. No, it was not a child. Four feet tall, incredibly thin, with grey skin and no mouth. Big, black bug-eyes adorned its disproportionately large head.

He brought his grenade launcher/cannon up and fired without taking aim. The HE round exploded against the door frame, but the shrapnel and explosion were enough to kill the Gray.

Another Gray could be seen inside the ship. It fired blindly, chirping violet bolts flying in Crispin's direction. A second round from his cannon hit the alien dead-center, sending bits of it all over the interior of the ship.

Crispin thought he heard footsteps. He had two choices: fire blindly into the ship or step inside and hope he had better reflexes than his remaining opponent. He decided to trust in his training. He faced the source of the footsteps as he entered the ship, and pulled the trigger once he saw the Gray. And missed.

If he had taken the rifle, Crispin knew he would be dead. The HE round destroyed the terminal directly behind the final Gray, with a large enough explosion to kill the Gray where it stood. A scream that sounded like it originated inside his head came as the Gray fell forward, its weapon flying from its hands.

Crispin scanned the room for enemies. Seeing nothing was still alive, he sighed in relief. The entire ship was one large room, with terminals along its edge and a strange, cascading pillar in the center. He was reminded of Star Trek. "Crispin to Skyranger-1," he said to the air. His communications gear picked up his voice and broadcast it on the unit's encrypted frequency. "UFO-1 secure.


	3. Debriefing

Rictor looked at the man in his office. One survivor out of eight men. He wanted to blame Crispin, but knew the events had been mostly chance. And if anyone else had survived the grenade, Rictor doubted they would have recovered the craft.

"Congratulations, Sergeant Crispin," he said, finally. "Job well done." He glanced at the mission report on his desk. "I would have made the same mistake as Hunter. They made me General so I couldn't go into the field; looks like they were right." Crispin looked sober, despite the offhand promotion.

"Our training methods are criticized for squashing individuality. I don't remember taking weapons from corpses being in the training manual." Crispin winced. "I want you to promote this kind of thinking in our new trips. You're in charge of Skyranger-1 until I get an OCS up and running."

"Yes, sir," Crispin said, some measure of pride seeping into his voice.


	4. UFO3

UFO-2 crashed into the ocean. It was unsalvageable, but at least it would never return to wreak havoc on Earth's citizens. Crispin's mission was the recovery of UFO-3. Three members of his team were women. That made Crispin nervous. The decision to include them was Rictor's, and Crispin hoped he would never regret it.

"Sewter, secure the entrance. Johnson, take the right." Sewter and his cover made for the ship. Johnson and her cover circled around to the right to help secure the area. Crispin took Beckett around the left. Left worked for him.

The staccato of an M-8 caught Crispin by surprise. "Sectoid down," announced Johnson through the comm. He had not entirely expected resistance outside the UFO.

This ship was cross-shaped, Crispin saw as they approached. Sewter stood a fair distance from the door to the ship, while Crispin took up position alongside it. When Johnson arrived, Crispin opened the door and stayed clear. He checked Sewter for a cue. "Door's clear." Crispin slipped inside, Beckett right behind him.

Unlike the last ship, this one was subdivided. The room branched left and right, a door on either end of the back wall. He moved further in. "Check right." Beckett scanned down the right while he looked left. "Section," he announced. It was another Gray. He triggered the range finder within the amount of time it took to fire an HE point-detonation round. The Sectoid's chest exploded.

Johnson entered next. "Johnson, with me. Beckett, through the door at my signal." Johnson waited four meters away while Crispin moved directly in front of the door. "Go." The door opened before he had a chance to operate the opening mechanism. He reflexively jumped back at the motion – in other words, he fell down in surprise. The motion saved him from chirping bolts the PhDs called a plasma weapon. He took aim at the Sectoid, but could not fire. It was too close, he should have switched to his PDW.

Twenty-seven rounds pumped into the Gray. Crispin recovered from the encounter before she did. By the time her clip was emptied, Crispin was on his feet. Even with no more bullets in her gun, Johnson was still pulling the trigger, fear and anger on her face. He slung his M-25 and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks."

She snapped back to reality, looking ashamed at what she had done. She reloaded her rifle. "Ready, sir." Crispin nodded and unholstered his PDW. He entered the room the alien came from. It was a small chamber with a second exit along the right wall. Beckett declared a Sectoid down.

Crispin opened the second door. A small corridor spanned to the left, to an open control room. As he stepped inside, he saw a Sectoid corpse near a terminal. Beckett was already there. Beckett indicated a door opposite the terminals on the near wall. Crispin pulled out the shoulder stock and braced his gun before opening the door.

A Sectoid was working on the red pillar that was the alien power source. Crispin sprayed a trio of 6.8mm rounds into its skull before the creature noticed him. "UFO-3 secure. Give me a headcount." All of his soldiers checked in.

Crispin's people held the area secure until the recovery team arrived. Another ninety minutes, they were debriefed in European Command. Afterwards, General Rictor had Crispin, Johnson, Beckett, and Sewter report to his office.

"I'm shipping you four out to OCS. More than 25 soldiers are being shipped in, and I want officers who know what's going on. Todd, I want you to go through administration training, and to take all the Science 101s. You should be back on the first of March. The rest of you will be done in two weeks."


	5. Return Home

Todd Crispin arrived at Euro-Com right on schedule, March 1st, 0600. Captains Johnson, Beckett, and Sewter were on a rotating schedule. By this point, he was the least experienced officer.

He entered the soldiers' living quarters and dropped off his things. Johnson found him as he finished unpacking. "Captain."

"Karyn," she corrected. "We're off-duty." Crispin smiled, remembering her face when she thought the Gray was going to kill him in UFO-3. She liked him. "You look different. Same confidence, but less a soldier. More emotional."

"Thanks." Crispin found a baseball in his trunk. He tossed it to Johnson, who looked at the ball she caught. "I picked up some hobbies. You should, too."

She turned the ball over in her hand. "That's a strange thing to say."

"I'll explain later." Crispin retrieved the ball and began tossing it in the air. He checked his watch: 0647. "Daily briefing in about ten minutes." Crispin grabbed his command jacket and slipped it on. Johnson looked at him funny. "Let's go."


	6. First Batch

Crispin pilled a PDA out of his jacket pocket and reviewed the existing duty assignments. There were three teams of eight, each operating on a rotational basis. While it minimized fatigue, it did not minimize casualties.

Some seats were taken in the Briefing Room, but they were still arriving. Crispin sat in the front row with the other officers. At exactly 0700, General Rictor walked in. He was the last.

"Good morning," he began, moving into position behind the podium. "As usual, we'll start with the personnel reports." Rictor read off the soldiers by rank. Instead of announcing who was on duty and who was off, he mentioned the number of completed missions per soldier. The officers had roughly 9 each. Then Rictor introduced the new rookies. "I'm going to turn over the briefing to Major Todd Crispin. He's an XCOM veteran from the days we were ATCOM, and is now in charge of the Duty Roster."

Crispin thanked General Rictor and took the podium. He brought his baseball with him. "I've spent some time away, so most of you don't know me. XCOM is a bigger unit than it was at its inception, but it's still not equipped to handle the alien threat. To succeed, the first thing we have to do is re-structure.

"Captain Sewter's team will be Assault. Captains Johnson and Beckett will rotate on UFO Retrieval. My own team will run Anti-Terror. Team members are yet to be decided.

"Several new technologies have been made available to us.

"Non-lethal rounds will be distributed to all units, in the form of 25mm rounds. R&D wants prisoners.

"Volatile rounds were designed specifically to do more damage against the enemies we'll be facing; expect your rifles to be more effective.

"Personal Armor will now be issued to all soldiers. It'll feel like an artificial leather body suit, but it may save your life. Deal with the discomfort, or die."

He had all of their attention. They were too well-disciplined to give anything less. Karyn Johnson's expression showed a little more than attention.

"Tomorrow, you'll be tested for aptitude and assigned to the appropriate team – or the Reserve. Today, you have different orders. The Menace we face controls their forces through computer chips and, possibly, psionics. Our biggest advantage isn't strength or technology. I want everyone to leave the base for the day and pick up a hobby. Our right to be individuals is what we're fighting to protect, and that's what will win us the War." Crispin tossed his baseball into the air. "Any hobby will do. Dismissed."


End file.
